BRUSSELS — The mayors of Milan, Rome, Naples and Turin are accusing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of discrimination by denying same-sex parents recognition as legal guardians.
Milan’s center-left mayor Giuseppe Sala is now facing off with the Italian government over the issue.
Italy’s new prime minister is turning the country into a version of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Sala told POLITICO on Wednesday.
“It is clear that the government is looking to those kind of countries,” said the mayor of Italy’s second biggest city, referring to Poland and Hungary.
In Italy, a lack of specific legislation over the past two years allowed mayors and municipal officials the power to grant legal guardianship for same-sex parents — but the Meloni government cut off that option earlier this year, threatening legal action against anyone who carries the practice forward.
Since taking office in October, Italy’s right-wing government has seized on divisive issues like LGBTQ+ rights and migration. Meloni is stoking a culture war to win votes, critics say.
Sala accused Meloni of taking the country back in time, also referring to a recent move that could limit the right to gather to protest.
Mayor’s mission to Brussels
Sala traveled to Brussels on Wednesday to garner support among European parliamentarians — including the Greens’ co-president Terry Reintke, who successfully placed a debate on the situation of so-called rainbow families in Italy on the European Parliament’s agenda for that same day.
At a press conference with Sala, Reintke said she “absolutely” believed that making Italy like Orbán’s Hungary was “the fear that stands behind a lot of the developments that we are seeing [in Italy].”
As a founding EU country and larger member country than Hungary and Poland, Reintke added about Italy: “The detrimental force that it would have to the European Union as a whole if we would see further developments in this direction in Italy would be of a completely different magnitude.”
On Thursday, Sala met the EU’s Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli, who backed his position.
“All children have the same rights without discrimination & are entitled to a continuity of their parenthood in cross-border situations within the Union,” she wrote on Twitter.
The mayor of Milan called on EU officials and institutions to speak out against Italy’s clampdown — but did not go so far as to suggest that Brussels should treat Italy like Hungary and Poland by threatening to withhold EU funds.
Both eastern countries have sought to curtail LGTBQ+ rights, with Poland going as far as to create “LGBT ideology-free zones,” and Hungary most recently banning the portrayal of homosexuality in content for minors.
Italian Socialist MEP Brando Benifei said at the press conference: “The Meloni government seems to be taking a more Orbán-esque line. It’s engaging in ideological propaganda which is targeting children.”
On Thursday, the European Parliament’s plenary backed an amendment “condemning” the actions of the Italian government, arguing that they discriminate same-sex couples. But this largely symbolic decision is not likely to impact Italy’s stance.
The EU has been withholding funds from Hungary due to rule-of-law issues, and has voiced separate concerns over its treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.
On December 14, the EU’s top court cited the principle of freedom of movement in ruling that same-sex parents and their children recognized as a family in one member country must be recognized as such in all member countries.
Only a couple of weeks later, Italy’s high court ruled that the recognition of same-sex parents can only be guaranteed if the child is adopted — a process Sala described as “very complex and convoluted in Italy.”
In January, Italy’s home affairs ministry issued a communication urging local authorities to abide by the court ruling, de facto closing the legal loophole that had allowed mayors to recognize same-sex parents.
Sala wryly noted that the Italian crackdown on registrations came just weeks after the European Commission proposed that the parenthood recognized in one EU country be acknowledged by all the rest.
“This [timing] is not a coincidence,” he said.
The Italian ban
The ban on registering children of same-sex couples fueled mass discontent in Milan, as thousands of people recently took to the streets to protest.
In a joint statement Tuesday, Sala and the mayors of Rome, Naples and Turin accused Meloni of discrimination, arguing that the move creates “disparities of treatment within the EU.’’
An exception to the government’s law involves children who are born abroad — although Sala added that the government might soon close this loophole, as well.
Italian judges had called on politicians to create a new law clarifying the matter, but the government so far has ignored that advice.
The mayor of Milan pointed out how the government’s moves have real-life consequences. If gay couples are not legally recognized as the parents of a child, they could for example be prevented from accompanying them when hospitalized.
Critics also note that any parent who has not been legally recognized might risk losing their child if their partner dies or the couple splits up.
Sala also raised concerns that the government’s crackdown might convey the message that LGBTQ+ couples are not welcome in Italy, and potentially drive them away from Milan — where about 7 percent of the population belongs to that community.
Although supporters had urged him to ignore the new rules and simply continue to register same-sex couples as the parents of their children, the mayor said that would be a legal minefield: Italian courts could cancel such registrations or go after the municipal workers who processed them.
“The next step [from the courts] could be to prosecute the mayor,” said Sala. “That’s something they can do, as I would be going against the law.”
The government made clear that ignoring the ruling by the politically independent high court amounts to a breach. “There are laws and a specific ruling. Mayors know what they can and can’t do,” said Eugenia Roccella, Italy’s family minister, on Wednesday in response to the mayors’ letter.
The Italian government did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
